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Commenting on Word-Choice. and Unpacking Metaphors. Click to advance presentation. Commenting on Word-Choice. In close reading, or textual analysis, if asked to comment on word-choice, you have to pick out key words Next you have to say what effect they have - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 3
Commenting on Word-Choice
In close reading, or textual analysis, if asked to comment on word-choice, you have to pick out key words
Next you have to say what effect they have
This means talking about connotations
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 4
For example
“The little girl was only three. She was thin and waif-like; her eyes were very large and blue; and her skin was waxy and pale.”
What impression of the little girl is given by the word-choice?
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 5
First - state general impression
The little girl seems frail and vulnerable.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 6
Next - explain how the word-choice creates this impression. The word ‘only’ emphasises her youth. “thin and waif-like” sounds very
vulnerable. The word ‘waif-like’ has connotations with (or is associated with) starving children.
“waxy and pale” suggests a person who is ill, perhaps even a dead person.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 7
What are connotations?
They are ideas or images which a particular word calls to mind
A word can have positive or negative connotations
Connotations can be odd, or threatening, or even amusing
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 8
Try commenting on the impression given by the word choice below “He was not a tall man - no, quite small
- with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 9
First pick out the words you might choose to comment on “He was not a tall man - no, quite
small - with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 10
Write down your own comments, before comparing them with mine on the next slide. They shouldn’t be identical - but along similar lines.
“He was not a tall man - no, quite small - with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 11
What impression is given?
The writer is at some pains to stress the man is “not a tall man”. He is “quite small”. Other words also emphasise his vulnerability - “wispy” suggests this and so does “curiously slender wrists.” But then his “strength” is emphasised with words like “firm and unresisting” and “toughness”. Here the combination implies a really determined character.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 12
Where imagery is used, it gets slightly more complicated
By ‘imagery’ I mean Simile (NB spelled like SMILE but with
an extra i at the front) Metaphor Personification ( a kind of metaphor)
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 13
Quick reminder: what is a simile? When two things are compared using the
words ‘like’ or ‘as’ (or sometimes ‘than’) For example: She was as pleased as
punch. Or: The girl ran faster than the wind to
find her master. Or: The food tasted like heaven
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 14
Quick reminder: what is a metaphor? When the writer says one thing IS
another (but really it is just a comparison) For example: She was his willing slave. Or: The girl ran on winged feet to find
her master. Or: The bread was food of the gods.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 15
Quick reminder: what is personification? When the writer describes a thing (or an
animal) as if it’s a person For example: The wind whispered sweet
nothings in her ears. Or: The ocean opened its huge mouth and
swallowed him forever. Or: The car’s engine coughed at her
reproachfully.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 16
How to comment on imagery First work out what is really being compared
with what Identify the image - metaphor, simile or
personification Note any other language effects present (e.g.
alliteration, onomatopoeia) Think about the effect of the whole thing [The word choice may have connotations you
should mention too]
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 17
Here’s an example. A simile.
He ate like a mad-man, tearing off huge crusts with bared teeth.
Comment? This simile compares him to a mad
person. This suggests he is frantic and strange. The ‘bared teeth’ sound aggressive and intimidating.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 18
Here’s an example of a metaphor. The woman slithered across the
floor, her snake-eyes bright with intent.
Comment? Comparing the woman metaphorically
to a snake has a sinister effect. “Snake-eyes” have unpleasant, dangerous connotations.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 19
And personification?
The lift groaned under the weight. Comment? Using the word ‘groaned’ personifies the
lift and makes the reader feel almost sorry for it.
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 20
Now some for you to try
She was like a huge lorry, bearing down on them at 100 miles per hour.
Comment?
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 21
And another
The tyres on the car screeched misery as the brakes screamed their last
Comment?
Higher English Survival Guide
Slide 22
And another
The house eyed them malevolently, its windows glinting.
Comment?
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